210 CHAPTER 4
Constantine Porphyrogenitus mentions the Alans as a threat to Khazaria,
since they lived near the “climates” and could plunder them and cause great
damage.170 It seems possible that the Alans caused trouble for Khazaria in
the 920s, but after 932 Alania most probably became once more subjected
to the Khazar Khaganate or at least turned into an ally of the Khazars.171
In S. Pletneva’s opinion, the description of the “climates” as the source of
Khazaria’s wealth indicates the strengthening of ties between the eastern
and the western parts of the khaganate during the tenth century.172 In the
eighth century, the northern foothill areas of the Caucasus were populated
by a Bulgar population. Its settlements were located in the immediate vicin-
ity of the Alanian ones and limited the Alans’ access to the Crimea and the
lower reaches of the Don.173 In the Stavropol Upland area alone, more than
50 permanent settlements have been found, similar in their economy to the
Don Region. This area also maintained steady ties with the Crimea and the
Taman Peninsula.174 In S. Pletneva’s opinion, the Bulgars displaced the Alans
from the foothill areas and thus ensured for themselves a steady access to the
mountain pastures. The Khumar hillfort, which was situated on the upper
reaches of the Kuban’ and had a garrison made up of Bulgars, was a large and
53). This text can hardly lead to the conclusion that the “climates” were not inhabited
by Khazars.
170 Constantine Porphyrogenitus. De Administrando Imperio, ch. 10.
171 The Byzantine influence among the Alans grew along with their Christianization and
had a political significance in the early tenth century due to the work of patriarch
Nicholas Mystikos (901–907; 912–925), and particularly during his second time on the
patriarchal throne between 912 and 925 (Kuznetsov 1962, 127–129; Kulakovskii 1898, 3–8).
As Al-Masudi’s account shows, the influence held by Christianity and Byzantium over
Alania, lasted until 932, when the Alan princes, who were Christians, renounced their
faith. Artamonov 1962, 362–364 associates this with the Cambridge Document and its
description of the war, waged against the Alans by the Khazar ruler Aaron with the help
of the Oghuz (originally the Turks—Author’s note). The same source names the Alans as
the allies of Joseph against Byzantium during the following years (Golb and Pritsak1997,
141; for more information on these events, see Zuckerman 1995, 254–255). Therefore, the
account of Constantine Porphyrogenitus does not allow for any blind assumptions that
Alania was completely independent from Khazaria and moreover hostile towards the
khaganate. See also Arzhantseva 2007a and 2007b.
172 Pletneva 1996, 155.
173 Kuznetsov 1962, 30, 76, and 88; Kovalevskaia 1981, 89; Bidzhiev 1989, 35–40; Arzhantseva
2007a, 83–87 and 2007b, 63.
174 Pletneva 1999, 188.